"       has a newer database format version (%u) than supported by this\n"
                                     "       version of notmuch (%u).\n",
                                     notmuch_path, version, NOTMUCH_DATABASE_VERSION));
-           notmuch->mode = NOTMUCH_DATABASE_MODE_READ_ONLY;
            notmuch_database_destroy (notmuch);
            notmuch = NULL;
            status = NOTMUCH_STATUS_FILE_ERROR;
                                     "       requires features (%s)\n"
                                     "       not supported by this version of notmuch.\n",
                                     notmuch_path, incompat_features));
-           notmuch->mode = NOTMUCH_DATABASE_MODE_READ_ONLY;
            notmuch_database_destroy (notmuch);
            notmuch = NULL;
            status = NOTMUCH_STATUS_FILE_ERROR;